Twelve and Sixteen
by lime green lily
Summary: Twelve years old Sakura was weak. She was annoying. She cried over the littlest thing. She had no pain tolerance at all. She wanted to be strong. Sixteen years old Sakura was strong. She can split the earth. She can heal anything. She can take anything thrown at her. She wanted to be twelve again.


**Title: Twelve and Sixteen**

**Summary: **Twelve years old Sakura was weak. She was annoying. She cried over the littlest thing. She had no pain tolerance at all. She wanted to be strong. Sixteen years old Sakura was strong. She can split the earth. She can heal anything. She can take anything thrown at her. She wanted to be twelve again. [Based on the phrase: Twelve years old Sakura wanted to be strong. Sixteen years old Sakura wanted to be twelve.]

**Rated**: K

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><p><strong>Twelve and Sixteen<strong>

**by: lime green lily**

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><p>Twelve years old Sakura was weak. She was annoying. She cried over the littlest thing. She had no pain tolerance at all.<p>

She wanted to be strong.

Sixteen years old Sakura was strong. She can split the earth. She can heal anything. She can take anything thrown at her.

She wanted to be twelve again.

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><p>Twelve years old Sakura was a naïve little girl. She was pure. She didn't know the burden that her hitai-ite carried.<p>

When she was attacked, she kicked and she punched and she fought and she bled. She tried not to show the tremble on that. She had bled, but she made an enemy bled too. She hoped she gets used to it.

Sixteen years old Sakura had seen far more than someone her age should've seen. She was tainted.

At night, she takes off her gloves, her clothes and she steps under her shower and tries to scrub the blood. As years pass by, she gets used to it and it disgusts her. She wishes for those days when her hand wasn't pink because no matter how much she scrubs, the blood stays there.

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><p>Twelve years old Sakura wanted to be a ninja so that no one will laugh at her anymore. She wanted Sasuke-kun to at least smile at her. She wanted people to respect her.<p>

She dolls herself up. She makes herself pretty. She's a kunoichi and the teacher at the kunoichi class says that a kunoichi's biggest asset is her beauty.

Sixteen years old Sakura was the ninja people revered. She was a medic and was as strong as Lady Tsunade. She had people's respect. All she want now is her team – her family to be whole again.

Most days, she's haggard. She gets so many surgeries and she can't lose a patient. Her Shishou said that it didn't matter if a medic looks like some genetic mutation gone wrong – what matters is that the medic saved a life.

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><p>Twelve years old Sakura hates Naruto. Well, not really hate. It's more of a strong dislike.<p>

Naruto was the one who can make Sasuke-kun focus on him. He was deadlast, but he was strong and determined and everything Sakura is not.

She's so jealous of him.

Sixteen years old Sakura hates Sasuke. It's not really 'hate', because Sasuke is her wayward brother. She hates (but not really hates) Sasuke because he made her cry and he made Naruto lose his smile.

Naruto's smile is the sun peeking from the gray sky. His smile is the rainbow after the rain. His smile was something so precious, she knew it had to be protected.

She wanted nothing more than to protect Naruto's smile.

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><p>Twelve years old Sakura is always being protected. Kakashi-sensei. Sasuke-kun. Naruto. They all protect her.<p>

For once, she want to be the one to protect them.

Sixteen years old Sakura only has herself. Kakashi-sensei is always out on a mission. Sasuke is a missing-nin. Naruto is out training. All of them are getting stronger so she had to get stronger too.

She trains and she trains and when she believes she can finally protect them, she realize that she's alone and there's no one to protect.

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><p>Twelve years old Sakura wanted to be a <em>real ninja<em> – just like Sasuke and Naruto and Kakashi-sensei. She wanted to be strong and walk beside them.

Sixteen years old Sakura has lived the life of a ninja. She wanted to return to being twelve, but she was the one who ties her hitai-ite on her head and to turn back now would be a dishonor to the twelve years old Sakura who sacrificed many to be the Sakura of today.

But she still wishes to be twelve.

(Sometimes.)


End file.
